The present invention has for a subject matter a device for locking and releasing objects intended for public use, particularly objects intended to be put at the public's disposal free of charge, such as luggage carts in a railway station or an airport, shopping trolleys in a self-service store, which objects the public can take directly from a common stowage space and must be taken back to the said space after being used.
It is known to provide such as object with a locking apparatus which allows locking it to an adjacent object or to a fixed point in a common stowage space. In the known systems, however, it is necessary, after introducing a coin or the like into the locking apparatus, to actuate a handle or press a button to unlock the object from an adjacent object or from a fixed point, the release of the object being thereafter obtained by exerting a pull thereon.